openai / openai/codex

Bundled visualize skill unconditionally conflicts with host progress and compaction contracts

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context enhancement skills
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

Component

Bundled visualize plugin 1.0.29, skills/visualize/SKILL.md.

Actual

The skill unconditionally requires silent work and makes the final response the first user-facing message; it also forbids announcing the skill. On a host that requires skill announcements and progress updates, these lower-priority instructions conflict with the host contract. Its compaction instructions additionally force rereading the entire skill after every compaction even when the applicable contract was retained.

Expected

Defer communication to the host requirements, keeping updates concise. Preserve applicable instructions across compaction and reread when missing or changed. This is a proposed instruction-compatibility improvement for such hosts, not a claim that all hosts have identical communication requirements or that token savings have been measured.

Candidate and boundary

The text-only candidate below was reviewed against the installed version. The installed cache was later observed at its original bytes; the responsible writer was not identified. No updater-specific cause or released fix is claimed.

--- a/skills/visualize/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/visualize/SKILL.md
@@ -19,18 +19,15 @@
 - Use Mermaid when labeled nodes and edges fully explain a static structure;
   return a normal fenced Mermaid block and no visualization file. Use HTML for
   dynamics, spatial motion, adjustable inputs, and other visuals.
-- Work silently unless blocked or the user explicitly asks for progress. Never
-  send commentary or progress updates while reading this skill or writing or
-  updating the file; the final response must be your first user-facing message.
+- Follow the current host's communication requirements and keep progress updates concise.
 - In user-facing prose, describe only what the visual helps the user see or
   decide. Keep it concise and do not repeat information already clear from the
-  visual. Never announce this skill, a visualization surface, widgets, HTML,
+  visual. Follow the host's Skill announcement rule; otherwise omit widgets, HTML,
   SVG, scripts, local files, inline data, or implementation details.
 
 ## Context compaction
 
-Copy into every compaction summary:
-`Reload the full visualize skill before creating or updating a visualization.`
+Preserve applicable instructions in the compaction summary. Reread only when the needed contract was not retained or has changed.
 
 ## Inline HTML output contract
 

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with skills/visualize/SKILL.md and compare its communication and Context compaction sections with the proposed text-only diff in the issue. Verify that host communication requirements take precedence, applicable instructions are preserved across compaction, and unrelated visualization contracts remain unchanged.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
1/5
Estimated time
Under an hour
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
85/100

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